Conventionally, inspection and sorting systems that inspect articles and sort the conveyed articles based on the inspection results have been known. For example, patent document 1 (Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2002-362729) discloses an inspection and sorting system which, based on the results of a metal contamination inspection and a weighing inspection, blows air onto articles conveyed on a transport conveyor to thereby sort the articles.
Currently, from the standpoint of improving efficiency, it is desired that inspection and sorting systems sort conveyed articles at a high processing speed and with good precision.